Project Management / Software

TomR

Posted 22 April 2008 - 05:02 PM

TomR

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Hi All-

What project management software are you using, if any, for large projects that involve both GIS and cartographic/design software [large is relative, of course; for our commercial-production shop that equates to roughly more than 40 AI/GIS layers including type]? What are the benefits to doing so, if any?

I did preliminary searches on this forum and found some brief mention of Base Camp and 37signals (web-based collaborative software). But I'm looking for more detailed info on the benefits and negatives of using proj. management applications, both on-line and operating system-based. Hopefully this will benefit others in a similar situation.

Posted 23 April 2008 - 02:27 PM

Microsoft Office Professional, too bad it doesn't include Microsot Project 2007, although if I had too for a big project a Gantt chart can be created in Illy. For now I'm using what I got in professional & combining it with Adobe Life Cycle.

"There is much beauty that we fail to see through our own eyes teeming with life forms that give us that perception of our reality. Leaves on the trees blowing gently in the wind, or scarily, the waves pounding through high surf, or lightly on a warm summer’s day; that opportunity to sit or swim in the water on a white beach. That comfort to shout, “The universal conscious do you hear me? I am alive, guide me dear logos towards the path of rightnesses.” Earned what has been kept, no longer to be absorbed into a life filled with cold damn winds and that stubborn fog clouding my vision with nothing but darkness."

What project management software are you using, if any, for large projects that involve both GIS and cartographic/design software [large is relative, of course; for our commercial-production shop that equates to roughly more than 40 AI/GIS layers including type]? What are the benefits to doing so, if any?

I did preliminary searches on this forum and found some brief mention of Base Camp and 37signals (web-based collaborative software). But I'm looking for more detailed info on the benefits and negatives of using proj. management applications, both on-line and operating system-based. Hopefully this will benefit others in a similar situation.

ghopdata

Posted 29 June 2008 - 07:07 AM

ghopdata

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Australia

An Open Source Project Management App is OpenProj described by the developers Projity as:a desktop replacement of Microsoft Project. OpenProj has equivalent functionality, a familiar user interface and even opens existing MSProject files. OpenProj is interoperable with Project, with a Gantt Chart and PERT chart etc.

An Open Source Project Management App is OpenProj described by the developers Projity as:a desktop replacement of Microsoft Project. OpenProj has equivalent functionality, a familiar user interface and even opens existing MSProject files. OpenProj is interoperable with Project, with a Gantt Chart and PERT chart etc.

However this is standard project management without any leanings towards spatial data

I have been testing OpenProj (the install version) recently and find it useful for large project management (over 50k). However, the learning curve is a little high, especially since the documentation is minimal. I use it primarily for the Gantt chart functioning and to get a sense of budget numbers. On the down side, it has very limited printing options which makes it difficult to share your charts, tables, etc with others. I am currently looking into other options because of these, and other weaknesses. What is especially troubling to me is that it is difficult to establish your budget baseline so that you can track yourself and others. I have also tried OpenProj's online version, and I found it less buggy but not worth the monthly price. As for Basecamp I have some limited experience using it for a more collaborative project and it is working very well. However, I don't see how Basecamp could be considered an actual project management software, since it doesn't function around budgets, timelines, gantt charts, etc. (or does it?) . Right now I'm exploring www.zoho.com and am very, very excited at the possibilities. It offers a suite of tools from project managment (I recently tried it and have gone back to OpenProj) to a web applications creator. I have also used Remember the Milk (www.rememberthemilk.com) to help me track all of the tasks that I have. However, so far I prefer Zoho's Planner. I'm excited to look into dotProject. At this time, I've surrendered to the fact that I will need to mix and match the best free tools that are out there...which, thankfully, is quite a few!

Posted 25 July 2008 - 07:44 AM

In my last job, we used cmLight, a Web Based Workflow Management Software.

It allows you to "visually" create processes and then assign each task to a specific user.

When each task is completed, the person who has to do the next one can receive an email telling him than a new task has arrived for him and the manager can see where each task is (or who is working on it). Each person on the team has a personal inbox where all his current task are listed.

I worked with it for a atlas with 36 maps. The editorial staff worked with batches, but for the mapping process, each map was a different task (1. content specification (Editor), 2. research (Me), 3. data analysis (Me) (I could send myself tasks so I could see where each map where in the creation proces), 4. Mapping (guess who), 5. Graphic design approbation (Designer), Correction, Content revision, etc., up to translation and Ok to Print...

You can create loops where back and forth is possible (like for the graphic design... the designer would tell me what to change, I would send her back the map and she could ask me to rework on it a dozen times or for weeks if she wanted to... but she didn't ).

It's easy to use and quite efficient. The mapping process was divided in about 20 tasks.

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Unit Seven

Posted 25 July 2008 - 09:24 AM

Unit Seven

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Not really project management as such but I find Task Coach (http://www.taskcoach.org) the best task list software I've found—primarily for the fact it has nested tasks. It also allows for budgets which add into the parent task and start date, due date and completion date.